DAMASCUS/Washington, June 23: Syria kept silent on Monday about a visit by UN nuclear officials to inspect a mysterious site bombed by Israel last year, with no official announcements a day after the team’s arrival.

There was no acknowledgement in the state-owned media that the inspectors were even in the country to investigate US allegations that the Al-Kibar site in the northeastern desert was a nuclear reactor nearing completion.

Just one privately owned daily, Al-Watan — like all Syrian media close to the government — made any mention of the inspection mission by the UN nuclear watchdog, carrying a commentary published by the Russian news agency RIA Novosti.

The commentary highlighted Syria’s strong denial of the US allegations and recent statements by International Atomic Energy Agency chief Mohamed ElBaradei that the watchdog had no evidence of Syrian nuclear foul-play.

“We believe therefore that the IAEA team’s mission is a routine visit aimed at putting an end to the rumours over a Syrian nuclear programme,” the commentary said.

It added that it remained unclear however whether “the United States will be satisfied with such an outcome or will press on with its accusations to create a Syrian nuclear issue similar to the Iranian or North Korean ones.” Washington has circulated photographs it says show that the Al-Kibar facility was a nuclear plant similar to the Yongbyon reactor in North Korea and being built with Pyongyang’s assistance.

Syria says Al-Kibar was a disused military facility.

The IAEA team is scheduled to leave Syria on Tuesday evening after completing its inspection of the site.

But the mission’s leader, IAEA deputy chief Olli Heinonen, said he would not be returning to the watchdog’s headquarters in Vienna until Wednesday evening. It was not immediately clear how the inspectors would be spending the additional time.

The team is to submit its findings to the UN watchdog’s next regular board meeting in September. The White House said on Monday that Syria must fully cooperate with UN nuclear experts on a mission to inspect a mysterious site bombed by Israel last year.

“What we would hope is that Syria cooperates fully with the inspectors. And then we’ll just wait to see what their report shows; we won’t prejudge it,”said spokeswoman Dana Perino.

Washington has circulated photographs it says show that the Al-Kibar facility was a nuclear plant similar to the Yongbyon reactor in North Korea and being built with Pyongyang’s assistance. —AFP